Columbus, Ohio …This year and next, middle school teachers have a unique opportunity to engage their students in one of the most massive scientific programs ever undertaken--the International Polar Year. Scientists from 60 countries are studying changes in the polar regions while many other groups are involved in educating the public via content-rich web sites, real-time broadcasts, and exhibits.

How to make this complex undertaking accessible to students is the subject of Science and the Polar Regions, an online publication from the Middle School Portal of the National Science Digital Library.

Mary LeFever, author of the publication, has identified more than three-dozen web-based resources for use in the middle school classroom. Among them are activities to help students visualize the poles, lesson plans focused on the physical attributes, biology, and environment of the polar regions, and sources of real-time data. One section of the publication provides background information for the teacher.

“Pedagogically speaking,” LeFever says, “students will need support, first, in accurately visualizing the location of the poles relative to the rest of the earth and, second, in distinguishing between the North and South Poles.” She points out that while polar science is earth science, it is also aligned with other science education standards, including science and technology, life and physical sciences, and, perhaps especially, personal and social perspectives in science.

The new publication appears in the Explore in Depth section of the Middle School Portal. At the web site, teachers will also find one-page publications called Quick Takes, which identify three or four “just-in-time” resources for teaching a topic or for expanding content knowledge.

Teachers are invited to register for e-mail announcements of new publications.

The Middle School Portal draws on the catalog of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) to identify web sites that support the middle school math and science curriculum. Teachers can browse the Middle School Portal collection by subject lists that align with the national science and math standards and search by keywords.

NSDL is the National Science Foundation-funded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education digital library. The Middle School Portal is supported by the NSDL at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

For more information, contact
Kimberly Lightle
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: (614) 688-3485